Tuesday, October 7, 2008

It's worth it--it really is!!!

I was starting to wonder if this whole "no dairy" thing was really worth it. Passing up the Cheetos, the ice cream, the DELICIOUS meals that SOOO many neighbors and friends made for our family has been SOOO hard for the food-lover in me. I was thinking of throwing in the towel this weekend when my sister comes to visit, but now i know better.

Last Saturday we went with some friends to Applebees. I ordered what i was SURE was a diary-free meal. But the next 3-4 nights were awful with Eliza. So i called my local Applebees restaurant to see if i could talk to a chef in the kitchen and find out if there was by chance some butter or something in my entree. Well, she referred me to their 1-800 number. I wondered how in the world the people at the 1-800 number would know what they do here in Littleton...well, it turns out that they don't prepare ANY of their food onsite! and it also turns out that i am the only one completely shocked by this! Apparently ALL chains (chilis, outback, olive garden, etc) receive their food frozen!!! And i'm the last to know! I've since been appropriately ridiculed for my naivete.

Anyway, they verified that the food i ate did have dairy--something in the seasoning of the rice. I was pretty sure it did, but it was good to confirm. It makes this whole thing TOTALLY worth it. Since about Wednesday night Eliza's been SOOOOO calm, and such a sweet, content baby! It's crazy the difference it makes!!

we've gone from lots of this

(Thanks, Jenny, for this ADORABLE outfit!!! She gets more compliments on those jeans than i knew was possible for a baby!!)

to lots of this

And she still only manages to be awake about 6 hours a day...so most of what we see is this